The Acostas Box Set. Susan Stephens

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      Ruiz swiftly disillusioned her. ‘Cleaning his tack, ironing his shirts, and cooking the playboy’s meals should do it.’

      ‘You mentioned dancing?’ she said as he helped her to dismount.

      ‘Yes. We’re having a party at the estancia this evening.’

      Holly hummed. ‘I’d watch your toes if I were you.’

      * * *

      The Christmas Eve celebration was being held in the main courtyard and, dressed in jeans with her hair piled up high, Holly had pitched in with the staff to help them dress the walls and balustrades with garlands of flowers to augment the colourful blossom in the garden. The cobbled area was lit by candlelight and torches held in high brackets on the walls, and there was a full moon that cast a spotlight on the glittering fountains. The band was already playing sexy South American music and there were professional dancers on hand to demonstrate the various styles of dance to the guests, as well as enough food and wine to feed an army. The banquet had been set out on trestle tables dressed with crisp white linen, boasting silver cutlery and twinkling crystal. Holly was just about to go and get changed when the biggest surprise of the night waylaid her. Lucia had arrived under cover of darkness to surprise her brothers. The two girls had been in touch by e-mail in order to spring a few more surprises before the night was out.

      ‘It’s just like the old days at school,’ Lucia commented, handing over Holly’s Christmas present. ‘All this subterfuge, with the added amazingness of you and my brother falling in love—’ Lucia broke off to give Holly the biggest hug ever. ‘Come on, sister-to-be, let’s go and get changed. You can hardly arrive at the party wearing jeans.’

      The outfit Lucia had chosen for Holly was spectacular. The slinky dress in vivid red had a low vee neck and the highest of high hemlines. Lucia had also chosen a pair of silver sandals with stratospheric heels to wear with it.

      ‘You look fabulous,’ Lucia exclaimed when they had sneaked into Holly’s bedroom and locked the door securely behind them. ‘Now get those sandals on,’ she prompted. ‘If Ruiz loved you before, his tongue will be sweeping the floor when he sees you wearing this …’

      ‘I’d rather Ruiz kept his tongue in his mouth,’ Holly remarked dryly, turning her head to examine her back view in the full-length mirror.

      ‘The answer is no,’ Lucia assured her. ‘It doesn’t look big. It looks perfect. You look perfect.’

      ‘And you shouldn’t be spending so much money on me.’

      ‘And you weren’t supposed to pay me any rent,’ Lucia countered. ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw the amount you put into my bank account.’

      ‘The column is going well.’

      ‘That doesn’t matter. Whoever gave you my bank details is so dead!’

      ‘Take the money. I can afford to pay you the going rate,’ Holly reminded her best friend. And didn’t that feel good. ‘You look pretty fabulous for a change,’ she added wryly, staring with renewed interest at her beautiful friend. ‘What’s the special occasion, Lucia?’

      ‘Only pretty fabulous?’ Lucia said worriedly, examining her back view in the same mirror.

      ‘You know you look as gorgeous as you always do,’ Holly volunteered. ‘But you still haven’t told me what the special occasion is …’

      ‘Why does it have to be special? It’s just a family party.’

      ‘And you are making a very special effort,’ Holly noted as Lucia checked her make-up in the mirror.

      ‘Okay, so I hear Nero Caracas is bringing his polo team as well as his new wife and baby tonight,’ Lucia explained off-handedly. ‘Which means Luke Forster, that American polo player, will be at the party. Don’t look like that, Holly. Luke’s far too stern and serious for me. And he’s about ten feet tall.’

      ‘Poor man,’ Holly murmured, remembering she had seen the good-looking American commanding the field of play quite a few times during the game.

      ‘But I might enjoy teasing him,’ Lucia added thoughtfully as she arranged her ample breasts in the low-cut dress.

      ‘Excellent news for Luke,’ Holly agreed tongue in cheek. ‘So are you ready to spring our surprise?’

      * * *

      Ruiz, meanwhile, was pacing up and down his bedroom with the phone gripped so tightly in his hand it was threatening to break apart. ‘What do you mean you couldn’t arrange it? I told you well in advance what I wanted. Plus there’s an agreement between our two countries so there shouldn’t have been a problem. What has happened to the vet? How can he have left on another flight when I booked him? I booked the jet, damn it!’ Ruiz thundered. ‘Who the hell countermanded my order?’ Ruiz whirled around as one of his brothers poked his head round the door. He waved him away. Business was all-important, and when it was business concerning Holly nothing came before that.

      ‘Are you coming to the party, Ruiz?’ his brother Diego asked him, refusing to be so easily dismissed.

      ‘When I’m ready,’ he snapped.

      ‘Would you like me to look after Holly for you?’

      His answer to that was to lob a polo ball at the door, which his brother dodged. ‘Only asking,’ Diego murmured, closing the door.

      So his surprise for Holly was ruined, Ruiz raged inwardly. Lucky for him the jeweller in Buenos Aires hadn’t let him down. Checking the breast pocket of his jacket, he decided he’d better go down to the party, but he was nowhere near ready to give up on his other surprise for her yet.

      * * *

      Holly and Lucia had barely walked into the party when three of the Acosta brothers spotted their sister and came straight over. Their reunion was touching and Holly envied their closeness. This wasn’t the constant squabbling and petty jealousies Lucia had described at school. It was the deep and abiding affection of people who knew everything there was to know about each other, and made Holly long for her own family.

      With all the constant squabbling and petty jealousies that might involve, she thought with amusement as Lucia batted the most formidable of her brothers, Nacho, on the head with her frivolous party purse. ‘How dare you summon me back like an employee, you great oaf? And what have you done with Ruiz?’ Lucia demanded, swinging round. ‘Holly has a special surprise for him and he’s not even here. Don’t tell me you’ve sent him back to London to work?’

      Nacho huffed dismissively. ‘I can’t tell your brother Ruiz what to do.’

      ‘Quite right,’ Lucia agreed dryly. ‘Ruiz is too busy telling me what to do.’

      As Lucia kissed each of her brothers in turn Holly grew increasingly anxious. Was her surprise for Ruiz going to fall flat?

      ‘Last time I saw Ruiz he was pacing his bedroom like a bear with a sore head,’ Ruiz’s brother Diego murmured discreetly in her ear. ‘I’d give him a few minutes.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Holly smiled her thanks.

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